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The effects of New Orleans' smoking ban, 100 days later

New Orleans is a magical place known for many things: music, food, architecture, festivals, partying — and a smoking ban?

In a city that knows how to let loose (and then some), that last bit might not sound very likely. I suppose you'll just have to consider it the new New Orleans.

That's a big no-no! Image via lolololori.

The city passed a smoke-free ordinance in January 2015, and it went into effect April 22, 2015, making it illegal to smoke in bars and the city's lone casino ... aka a lot of places in NOLA.

And time flies: Aug. 5 marked 100 days of New Orleans being smoke-free in these establishments. New data shows the effect it's had so far.

The city has seen a 96% drop in air pollution levels in less than four months.

The info comes from a study conducted by indoor air quality researchers from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Their team set up shop at 13 different bars and one casino in New Orleans — before and after the ban was implemented — and used high-tech air pollution monitors to determine the amounts of fine particle air pollution in each establishment.

100 days. 96% drop in air pollution.

“We've heard from so many people in our bars, restaurants and casino who say they feel better and can breathe easier now without the stress of knowing they are in an unhealthy environment," said councilwoman Latoya Cantrell, the ordinance's chief sponsor.

The study might seem small considering there are a bajillion bars in NOLA, but the results of it are nothing to scoff at. Especially when you see how it adds to a larger trend happening in the United States.

New Orleans is just one more city added to an ever-growing list of cities and states going smoke-free.

The American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation says that as of July 1, 2015, 30 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have laws in effect that require restaurants and bars to be 100% smoke-free. Did your city or state make the list?

Map and data via American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

It's no secret that secondhand smoke is bad for you: It contains more than 7,000 chemicals with at least 69 that cause cancer. Asking people to take it outside can only help.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that's exactly what's happening. It's only a matter of time before that map is all blue, don't you think?

No one likes air pollution, and this is one easy way to reduce it indoors. Hooray for happier lungs!

Family

Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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parenting
Pop Culture

These incredible acoustic cameras can actually see sound

Here's how they work.

via Steve Mould/YouTube

YouTube creator Steve Mould shows us what echo looks like through an acoustic camera.

It’s bizarre to think about seeing sound, but nowadays we can do just that. If you haven’t seen an acoustic camera before, that’s because they’re mainly used for industrial purposes, but they’ve been available commercially from gfai tech since 2001.

YouTuber Steve Mould, who has a science channel with over 2.1 million subscribers, took the complicated concept of the acoustic camera and made it easy to understand in his latest video, “Acoustic cameras can SEE sound.”

In the video, Mould explains how an acoustic camera is much like your smartphone's video recorder. But it also creates visual representations of sound emanating from where it’s generated within the video.

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technology
Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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internet
Family

Dad gives his young daughter a 'spa day' while mom and sister are out and people are gushing

"This healed a part of me. Thank you for doing this with your daughter."

Mason Smith/Instagram

Mason Smith pampered his baby girl during her "spa day."

Raising kids is no small feat. Just the basic logistics of caring for a human being from their helpless newborn stage to the full-fledged adult stage is a lot, much less doing the countless other things that will actually help that human thrive.

Parents who go above and beyond to create a nurturing environment and build strong core memories with their kids are inspiring examples for us all, and one dad's spa day with his daughter has people positively gushing.

Mason Smith (@thedadsocial) shared a video of a special spa day he gave his young daughter when her mom and older sister were having their own pampered outing. "Mom and sister went to the salon so I couldn't have her feeling left out," he wrote.

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dads and daughters
Joy

Communications consultant reveals the interview tip that gets her the job every time

It really seals the deal.

via Jennifer Reardon/TikTok

Jennifer Reardon shares her question that gets her the job everytime.

Job interviews are one of the most stressful situations people go through. A recent poll of over 2,000 people found that job interviews are the fifth most stressful experience a person can have, right after health and financial problems, family issues and running late.

That’s why it is vital to be prepared to handle any questions you have to field during the interview. You’ll be less nervous and make a better candidate. However, many people never think to have a question prepared for their potential employer at the end of the interview when they ask, “Do you have any questions for us?”

Communications director and consultant Jennifer Reardon, who goes by the name @notjenneeree on TikTok, says that she has the perfect question to ask at that pivotal moment at the end of the interview. And she claims that she got the job every time she’s asked the question.

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job interviews
Internet

Study of Upworthy headlines claims negativity drives website clicks. We have some thoughts.

Let us give you a peek behind the editorial curtain here.

Photo by Egor Vikhrev on Unsplash

Let's talk about what makes people read articles.

The adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," refers to the media's tendency to headline stories involving death or violence, but it can also be used to point to people's negativity bias. Simply put, people tend to pay more attention to negative news stories than positive ones.

A new study seems to reinforce this idea. And much to our surprise, it's centered on headlines used in Upworthy stories.

Using a public archive of Upworthy headlines and traffic data from 2012 to 2015, two separate teams of researchers analyzed whether people's click tendencies changed with negative or positive words in headlines. In those olden days of Upworthy, a handful of headlines for a single story were tested on the website to see which one would receive the most clicks. The research teams analyzed those results and found that negative words in headlines led to more people clicking on a story (2.3% more), and positive words in headlines led to fewer clicks (1.0% fewer). They also found a preference for headlines that express sadness over those that express joy, fear or anger.

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media consumption
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